b'66 INDUSTRY INSIDERWhen it Comes to the Budget, Always BLUFWhile attending the AAAE/ particular grant proposal is but one of ACC Airport Planning, Designmany assigned to the FAA PM. IndividualBrian M. Tompkins, and Construction Symposiumbudgets communicate the federal fundingPE, CM, is a federal earlier this year, I heard an acronym thatat the project level and at the AIP level ingovernment employee with 25 years of airport was new to me: Bottom Line Up Frontaggregate. planning, design (BLUF). In essence, its the practice ofCertainly, there are other high-valueand construction beginning a message with the mostcomponents of a project like geometricexperience. During that tenure, heimportant information (the bottom line)layout, pavement design, lighting andhas been involved in more thanso recipients are provided with the keyelectrical design, etc., and these may400 airport development projects information they need right away.be more exciting to an engineer thaninvolving federal grants.The origins of BLUF date back topreparing and discussing budgets. the 1980s, when the U.S. Army startedBut those elements are completed inShould Budget Informationtraining active duty members to writethe design phase. The project budget,be Conveyed Differently?more effectively. As writing standardshowever, is active and maturing alongWhen an FAA-funded project begins, began to surface, Army Regulation every stagefrom the Data Sheet toone of the first tasks is to conduct a 25-50, Information Management:each design submittal and throughPredesign Conference. Generally, one of Records Management: Preparing andconstruction via change orders until itsthe first topics discussed is the projects Managing Correspondence, was final state at closeout.scope. Second should be the federal created to capture them. The general convention is to list thefunding an airport anticipates needing. The FAA also offers guidance onproject budget in the last section ofThird should be the overall project how to write clearly and effectively. Inthe FAA-required Engineers Designschedule.Order 1000.36, FAA Writing Standards,Report. This practice likely stems fromMoving the project budget discussion the federal agency instructs writers tosupplemental guidance conveyed in AIPfrom the end of the Engineers Design present material in the order that isSponsor Guide Section 920, EngineersReport to the beginning would benefit most useful to the reader. One way toDesign Report, which places thethe FAA PM given the budgets 1) accomplish this is by putting the mostproject budget last in its bulleted list ofimportance in communicating the need important points first. Sounds familiar. recommended minimum topics.for federal funding to the FAA, 2) linkage No doubt, this location is logical fromto all phases of a project, and 3) living What is Most Important the engineers perspective, since onestatus until the grant is officially closed. to the FAA? must first identify and design all of theThe budget is sine qua non (essential) For your FAA Airports Division Programcomponents of a project in order toto a project and, as such, deserves a Manager (PM), the most importantgenerate a complete construction costmore prominent positionnot only in information throughout the life of a projectestimate and then ascertain what federalthe Engineers Design Report, but also is likely going to be its budgetwhereand local funds are needed. It alsoin discussions with the FAA over the life the federal funding an airport anticipatesseems to mirror the business worldsof a project. Use the BLUF concept to needing and what is available meet. Inparadigm of putting earnings, profit,move the budget front-and-center, right managing Airport Improvement Programnet income, etc., near the bottom of awhere it belongs. (AIP) grants within a given fiscal year, yourcompanys income statement.July | August 2023AirportImprovement.com'